Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri
| place_of_birth = Asafi, Morocco | date_of_arrest = | place_of_arrest= | arresting_authority= | date_of_release = | place_of_release= | date_of_death = | place_of_death = | citizenship = | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 197 | group = | alias = Ahmad Abdullah al Wazan Younous Chekkouri Younis Chekkouri | charge = | penalty = | status = currently held in Guantanamo after being classified as enemy combatant by the United States | csrt_summary = | csrt_transcript= | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri is a citizen of Morocco currently held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba after being classified as an enemy combatant by the United States's Shokuri reports his date of birth as April 5, 1968. The Department of Defense reports that he was born in Asafi, Morocco and assigned him the Internment Serial Number 197. As of September, 2010, Shokuri has been held at Guantanamo for eight years four months.http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/197-yunis-abdurrahman-shokuri Press reports On July 12, 2006 the magazine Mother Jones provided excerpts from the transcripts of a selection of the Guantanamo detainees. "Why Am I in Cuba?", Mother Jones (magazine), July 12, 2006 Shokuri was one of the detainees profiled. According to the article his transcript contained the following comment: :The only way I know the United States is through movies from Hollywood or through cartoons. I’m a big fan of a lot of their singers…. The first time I saw an American soldier was at Kandahar Air Base…. When I first saw myself in Kandahar, it was like I was in a cinema or a movie. I saw a 1996 movie called The Siege. The movie was about terrorists carrying out terrorist attacks in the United States…. the movie the CIA and FBI were not successful in finding that terrorist group and the United States Army interfered and gathered all the people of Arabic descent and put them in a land cage or camp just like it happened in Kandahar. I was shocked, thinking, “Am I in that movie or on a stage in Hollywood?”… Sometimes I laugh at myself and say, “When does that movie end?” Combatant Status Review Tribunal Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were ''lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. Summary of Evidence memo A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Shokuri Yunis Abdurrahman's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 16 November 2004. fast mirror The memo listed the following allegations against him: Transcript Shokuri chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri's ''Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 70-85 The allegations were read aloud, and recorded in Shokuri's transcript.detainees ARB|Set_36_2493-2577.pdf}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 70-85 The version read aloud did not have his position within the GICM—he was the head of the GICM's Military Commission. The version read aloud listed fewer terrorist groups associated with the GICM. Opening statement Shokuri said that all the detainees he had talked with, who had been allowed to meet with the lawyers handling their habeas corpus cases had been told they should not participate in their Combatant Status Review Tribunal. But Shokuri said he chose to participate anyhow, because he had faith in his total innocence. Shokuri said he had lived for six years in Pakistan, where he studied and did humanitarian work. Following his stay in Pakistan he traveled to Yemen and Syria. During the summer of 2001 he traveled to Afghanistan -- for humanitarian work. Testimony Administrative Review Board hearing | pages=1 | author=Spc Timothy Book | date=Friday March 10, 2006|accessdate=2007-10-10 }}]] Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant". They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat—or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free. First annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 26 October 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention. The following primary factors favor continued detention The following primary factors favor release or transfer Statement The Department of Defense released a brief statement Yunis Abdulrahman wrote : During his second annual Administrative Review Board he referred to attending his earlier Board. The Department of Defense has not explained why this transcript was withheld. Second annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ahmad Abdullah Al Wazan's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 19 September 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention. The following primary factors favor continued detention that he attended training with the detainee at the Tarik Camp located near Bagram, Afghanistan. The source stated the detainee also fought alongside the source's group near the front combat lines in the vicinity of Bagram, Afghanistan. :c. Connections/Associations :#According to a source, the detainee was part of a small group of Moroccan Islamic leaders who formed the Group Islamique Combatant du Maroc, GICM, during 1995 in Sudan. The purpose of this organization is the overthrow of the Moroccan monarchy and to establish a religious state. The GICM was active inside Morocco, the United Kingdom, Italy, Syria, Turkey and France. :#According to a source, during the bombings in Afghanistan, the detainee met with Usama bin Laden who supposedly gave Group Islamique Combatant due Maroc financial aid to undertake actions in Morocco. :#The detainee and another person went to Jalalabad, Afghanistan early 1999 and convinced the leaders of Hizb I Islami Gulbuddin to give them a two-bedroom apartment for a Moroccan guest house. :#Gulbuddin Hikmatyar founded Hizb I Islami GUlbuddin, HIG, as a faction of the Hizb I Islami party in 1977, and it was one of the major Mujahedin groups in the war against the Soviets. HIG has long-established ties with Usama bin Laden. In the early 1990s, Hikmatyar ran several terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and was a pioneer in sending mercenary fighters to other Islamic conflicts. Hikmatyar offered to shelter Usama bin Laden after the latter fled Sudan in 1996. :#According to a source, Hizb E Islamic Gulbuddin provided Group Islamique Combatant du Maroc paramilitary training and infrastructure support. :#According to a source, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group provided Group Islamique Combatant du Maroc recruiting, indoctrination, logistic support, and paramilitary training. :#The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group emerged in 1995 among Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Declared the government of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi un-Islamic and pledged to overthrow it. Some members maintain a strictly anti-Qadhafi focus and organization against Libyan Government interests, but others are aligned with Usama bin Ladin's al Qaida organization or are active in the international Mujahidin network. The group was designated for asset freeze in September 2001. :#A source said he saw the detainee at a guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan and heard he was a leader at the al Farouq Training Camp. :#Another source said that he was told the detainee was very close to Usama Bin Laden, was in charge to the Kandahar camp and was head of the North African group of al Qaida fighters. The source was also told that the detainee had his own weapon, vehicle and guards. :#An additional source said that the detainee was a military leader on the front lines near Bagram, Afghanistan and also in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. :#Another source identified the detainee from a photograph and said the detainee was an individual that was experienced with explosives and improvised explosive devices. :d. Other Relevant Data ::The detainee said when the bombing started in northern Afghanistan in November 2001 he planned to flee Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The detainee's wife obtained transportation to Peshawar, Pakistan while the detainee and his brother Radwan fled east into the Tora Bora Mountains. After crossing the border the detainee and his brother were turned over to Pakistan authorities. }} The following primary factors favor release or transfer Transcript The Department of Defense released a 15 page summarized transcript. Release and disappearance Various press reports assert that Shokure was transferred back to Morocco on October 12, 2006. mirror But his name was not present on a list the Department of Defense published of the captives transferred from Guantanamo prior to October 9, 2008. Habeas corpus petition Shokuri had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf. Publication of captives' CSR Tribunal documents In September 2007 the Department of Justice published dossiers of unclassified documents arising from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of 179 captives. Shokuri's was not one of the dossiers that was published. Military Commissions Act The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed. mirror Boumediene v. Bush On June 12, 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant". mirror On 15 July 2008 Jan K. Kitchel filed a "PETITIONER'S REQUEST FOR 30-DAY NOTICE OF REMOVAL OR TRASFER" on Shokuri's behalf in Civil Action No. CV 05-0329 (HHK). mirror The petition would prevent the Department of Defense from transferring him out of US jurisdiction without giving his attorney's thirty days notice. The Department of Defense had transferred some captives to countries where they were subsequently subjected to abusive treatment—even though they had active habeas corpus petitions. His name was spelled "Younous Chekkouri" in that petition. References External links * Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Three: Captured Crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan (1 of 2) Andy Worthington, September 22, 2010 * Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri - biography Category:Moroccan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:1968 births Category:People held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Category:People from Safi, Morocco